Google picks up cloud monitoring service Stackdriver

Stackdriver offers a service for developers to monitor apps and services on the cloud.

Google has snapped up startup Stackdriver that offers a service for developers to monitor apps and services on the cloud.

Stackdriver is joining the company's cloud platform team, Google said Wednesday, without providing the financial details of the transaction.

The teams will be working to integrate Stackdriver's functionality so that Google Cloud Platform customers can take advantage of the monitoring capabilities, which allow customers to have more visibility into errors, performance, behavior, and operations, Tom Kershaw, a Google product manager wrote in a blog post.

Google is investing more in the area in the coming months, he added, without providing details.

Stackdriver in Boston, Massachusetts said on its website that it was founded in 2012 on the belief that as cloud hosting takes off, tools for monitoring Amazon Web Services and other cloud environments would be required.

In a post announcing that Stackdriver is joining Google, the team wrote that it remains committed to delivering a world-class service for Stackdriver's current and future customers, regardless of their choice of infrastructure provider. "And because Google is fully committed to the cloud, expect us to continue to be as agile and responsive as ever as we begin this next chapter in our journey," the post added.

Google is adding features to differentiate its cloud service in an already competitive market for cloud services. Amazon Web Services and later Microsoft Azure cut prices of their cloud services in April after Google chopped prices. Most of Stackdriver's products and services are still largely focused on AWS but can also work with services from providers like Rackspace and with Google Compute Engine. The company said on its website that the largest AWS customers use Stackdriver.

In a separate development, the team at a designer of mobile-ready websites for restaurants also joined Google. Appetas in Seattle, Washington said Wednesday its team will shut down its service and is joining Google, but did not provide details of the transaction. Google could not be immediately reached for comment.